Noteworthy new listings….
800 Carosam Road ($9.9 million) “was the first property in Hope Ranch and was originally developed as the Potter Country Club in 1907.” It has five bedrooms and five baths, and it sits on 2.35 acres. Everything needs updating, of course, but even so, I’ve fallen a bit in love—at least till I go to the brokers’ open later this morning. Stay tuned…. UPDATE: I’ve seen it and I’m even more in love. If I had the money and the desire to live in Hope Ranch, I’d snap it right up. The kitchen and baths do need updating, and the wall-to-wall carpet is a lot (especially in the baths), but the rest of the house is a peach. It’s actually a four-bedroom house, with two on each side; the one-bedroom guest accommodations—you enter via the bathroom—are possibly better used as a shed.
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The 1910 house at 626 E. Micheltorena Street ($3.995 million), at the southern end of California Street, got added onto at some point, and the result is a maze-like floor plan with stairs galore that reminded me a little of the Winchester Mystery House. The south-facing rooms with abundant windows are where you’d want to spend most of your time.
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3735 Essex Street ($2.895 million) in San Roque is short on curb appeal: the meager concrete porch with a side door at one end is the opposite of a warm welcome. Inside is far more successful: the seller did a thorough renovation—although why he/she didn’t enlarge the windows on the left end of the facade, we’ll never know—and I can see a young couple/family vibing on the spare aesthetic, even if they might wish one day they had a mantel for displaying photos of the littles.
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2335 State Street ($2.495 million), at the corner of W. Junipero Street, is a 1924 Spanish cutie with tons of historical charm, and the interiors have been done in high style. With the exception of the claustrophobia-inducing primary shower, the proportions feel good, especially for an old house, and the side porch along Junipero is less grim than it looks in the photo.
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With its broad Mission Canyon views, the 1952 three-bedroom, two-bath 2620 Tunnel Ridge Lane ($2.495 million) will be catnip for spec renovators. Here’s hoping the blacktop motor court gets rethought. And pity the workers who have to navigate the narrow, winding private lane….
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Just up the hill is 1297 Tunnel Road ($2.249 million), a 2009 rebuild of a 1965 three-bedroom “by renowned architect Frank Robinson for celebrated modernist jeweler George Brooks.” The open-plan living/dining/kitchen area has panache; the bedrooms are a blank slate; and the bathrooms could be integrated better into the style of the house.
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The second Greek-inspired property to come online in recent months—the first being 5297 Austin Road—6891 Del Playa Drive ($2.598 million) is at the western edge of Isla Vista and just one house off the bluff. The layout is upside-down, with living spaces upstairs; is the primary bedroom on the ground floor to avoid being bothered by the park next door?
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And a few others worth checking out:
••• 115 Coronada Circle ($3.195 million): 1971 two-bedroom that doesn’t appear to have views. You can always make friends with the neighbors….
••• 722 Willowglen Road ($2.95 million): Renovated San Roque four-bedroom with an apostrophe-shaped pool (below).
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